MIDTERM

MODULE 6
SEX AND GENDER ISSUES
THE BIBLICAL THOUGHT AND THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE

MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:
• Express understanding of this multi-faceted issue and formulate a framework of
conceptualizing this subject considering these dimensions of discussion:
a. Sociological
b. Political
c. Biological
d. Psychological
e. Theological
• Determine the lenses by which we view the cultural war of gender issues and find a way
to integrate these lenses to better approach this issue.

INTRODUCTION:
This module explores the culture war around the issue of gender and sexuality,
how it affects societal structures and norms. Worldviews around the issues will be
discussed and appropriate categories of discussion will be elaborated. It also covers the
Biblical view of human sexuality and the theological significance of the view in our
society.

Men and women aren't the same. And they won't be the same. That doesn't mean that they can't be treated fairly.
- Jordan Peterson

LESSON INPUTS:

THE OVERARCHING PROBLEM: CULTURAL WAR Are men and women

- (between two models or lenses)

Lenses: (Mark Yarhouse | 36th Annual Scandrette Is gender totally

Lecture | 3/29/2018—YouTube, n.d.) separate from
biological sex?
1. Integrity - “concern to be corrected”

• Identifies gender dysphoria as confusing the

sacredness of maleness and femaleness and
specific resolutions of gender dysphoria as
violations of that integrity

1
“From the integrity framework: same-sex sexual behavior is sin in part because it does not
“merge or join two persons into an integrated sexual whole…”; the “essential maleness” and
essential femaleness” are not brought together as intended from creation. When extended to
the discussion of transsexuality and cross-gender identification, the theological concerns rest
in the “denial of the integrity of one’s sex and an overt attempt at marring the sacred image of
maleness or femaleness formed by God.”
- Mark Yarhouse, Understanding Gender Dysphoria

2. Disability - “experience to be empathized with”

• It identifies gender dysphoria as a variation that occurs in nature. For Christians, it may
be thought of as a result of the Fall and at times likened to a disability, a nonmoral
reality to be addressed with compassion.

“Life is life and things must be taken as they come. Sin is a sin. And tendencies or hormonal
imbalances have many problems and we must be careful not to say that everything is the
same. Let’s go party. No… but in every case accept it, I accompany it, I study it, I discern it
and I integrate it. It’s a human problem and it must be resolved always can be with the mercy
of God, with the truth… but always with an open heart.”
- Pope Francis

3. Diversity - “culture to be celebrated”

• Highlights gender-related presentations as reflecting a sense of identity and culture to

be celebrated as expressions of the diversity.

“Trans” people are not “God’s mistake”; although other forms of human diversity may also
wrongly lead to oppression by the privileged majority (differences of race, ethnicity,
socioeconomic class, nationality, physical ability, sexual orientation, and religion), they often
don’t seem to cause the moral/theological outrage that gender-diverse people do as if their
very existence blasphemes against God. Yet to be born outside the gender binary really isn't
any different than being born with any other form of diversity. To explain to others that we are
transgender doesn't inherently suggest that God made any sort of mistake in creating us as
transgender.
- H. Adam Ackley

“ A french father told me that he was speaking with his children at the table, he and his wife
were Catholics… and he asked his 10-year-old son: “what do you want to be when you grow
up? - “a girl”. The father realized that at school they were teaching him gender theory, and this
is against the natural things. One thing is that a person has this tendency, this condition and
even changes their sex, but it’s another thing to teach this in schools to change the mentality.
This is what I call ideological colonization.”
- Pope Francis

2
 Dimensions of Discussion

I. Sociological

A. Sociological definitions (Ballantine & Roberts, n.d., p. 284); (“What Is Gender

Dysphoria?” n.d.)

1. Sex- a biological term referring to ascribed genetic, anatomical and hormonal

differences between males and females.
2. Gender - learned and created, refers to socially constructed notions of masculinity
and femininity.
3. Gender roles - commonly assigned tasks or expected behaviors linked to an
individual’s sex-determined structural guidelines and positions expected to males
and females.
4. Sexuality - refers to how cultures shape the meanings of sexuality and sexual acts
and how we experience our own bodies and our bodies in relation to others.
5. Transgender - refers to the broad spectrum of individuals who transiently or
persistently identify with a gender different from their gender at birth. (Note: the term
transgendered is not generally used.) Transsexual - refers to an individual who
seeks, or has undergone, a social transition from male to female or female to male.
In many, but not all, cases this also involves a physical transition through cross-sex
hormone treatment and genital surgery (sex reassignment surgery).
6. Gender expression - the manner in which a person communicates about gender to
others through external means such as clothing, appearance, or mannerisms. This
communication may be conscious or subconscious and may or may not reflect their
gender identity or sexual orientation.
7. Gender identity - is a category of social identity and refers to an individual’s
identification as male, female or, occasionally, some category other than male or
female. It is one’s deeply held core sense of being male, female, some of both or
neither, and does not always correspond to biological sex.

B. Societal issues

The current social and cultural climate can be discussed on two levels:

Socio-cultural distinctions

1. Theonomous - The laws of the divine (God) dictates the moral and social
framework of the state. Sometimes called the “Natural law”
2. Heteronomous - The elites on top dictates the moral and social framework for
the state. Eg. Sharia Law
3. Autonomous - “Autos” - self, “nomos” - Law, the individual determines his own
moral and social life.

Relational distinctions

3
 1. Political Identity (advocate)
2. Public Identity (Neighbor, Co-worker)
3. Personal Identity (Navigating sexual or gender Identity)

II. Political
A. Rights - Equality as the main goal
B. Discrimination - exclusion based on gender preferences. There is a claim of
Institutional discrimination, - inequality woven into the web of social structure.
(Ballantine and Roberts p. 284)

Legislations:

1. SOGIE Bill (House Bill No. 4982)

a. Equal Rights for all under the constitution
b. Discrimination of Religion in public life
2. Civil Partnership Act (House Bill No. 6595)

III. Biological

• There are 2 sexes

1. Male - bears an XY chromosome, has male reproductive organs and able to
impregnate the opposite sex
2. Female - bears XX chromosome, has female reproductive organs and capable of
pregnancy and childbirth

● Occurrence of Intersex
o Statistics The most thorough existing research finds intersex people to constitute
an estimated 1.7% of the population
o This includes other genetic aberrations and deviances

Genetics: “Born Homosexual?”

4
 • Brain sex theory - Suggests that the introduction of hormones (testosterone,
estrogen) in utero influences the sexual identity of a person. More estrogen for male
fetuses can or more testosterone for female fetuses may well be a predisposing
factor for gender formation and identity.
• “Estimates of hereditability of homosexuality also demonstrate that environmental
factors are more important than genetic ones. While there is evidence that may be a
predisposing factor, these studies merely demonstrate the presence of a genetic
factor or gene. The overall effect of genes, as we have noticed, is much less
important than that of environmental factors.” (Tay, 2010, pp. 45–46)

IV. Psychological

Homosexual Experience:(Yarhouse & Burkett, 2003)

1. Same-sex attraction - acute, characterized by confusion
2. Homosexual orientation - prolonged state of attraction and struggle
3. Homosexual Identity - no confusion and struggle, but rather, accepted and
celebrated

Environmental factors (Tay, 2010)

1. Failure of the father-son relationship
2. Dominant mothers
3. Peers
4. Media
5. Sexual and physical abuse

Gender Dysphoria

Gender dysphoria involves a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender and the
gender with which he/she/they identify. People with gender dysphoria may be very
uncomfortable with the gender they were assigned, sometimes described as being
uncomfortable with their body (particularly developments during puberty) or being
uncomfortable with the expected roles of their assigned gender.
People with gender dysphoria may often experience significant distress and/or problems
functioning associated with this conflict between the way they feel and think of themselves
(referred to as experienced or expressed gender) and their physical or assigned gender.
(“What Is Gender Dysphoria?” n.d.)

A. Statistics - Europe and North America

a. A school-based survey eliciting gender experiences with scales commonly used at
gender identity services suggested that 1.3% of 16–19-year-olds had potentially
clinically significant gender dysphoria. (“Gender dysphoria in adolescence: Current
perspectives,” n.d.)
b. Diagnosis of Gender dysphoria also presents a difficulty as to its DSM V categories
and presentations. This adds to the efforts of the identification of clients that present
to have the condition.

5
B. Treatment
• Reorientation Therapy - sometimes also known as “Conversion therapies”
(or “reparative therapies”).
a. Are interventions purported to alter same-sex attractions or an individual’s gender
expression with the specific aim to promote heterosexuality as a preferable outcome.
(“Conversion Therapy,” n.d.)
b. Success rates of this treatment are riddled with mixed results.

“The main arguments cited in attempts to ban reorientation therapy are not compelling.
They do not stand up to scientific scrutiny or logic, nor do they appear consistent with
medical precedent and ethical practice” (Yarhouse & Throckmorton, 2002)

V. Theological
Bible passages

A. Leviticus 18:22; 20:13

18:22 “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is
detestable.
20:13 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of
them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on
their own heads.

B. Romans 1:24-27
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity
for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created
things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women
exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were
inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and
received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

C. Genesis 19 - The account of Sodom and Gomorrah

D. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have
sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers
will inherit the kingdom of God.

All these Biblical passages are debated and are interpreted by others to be non-
indicative of the direct prohibition of homosexuality and homosexual acts. But

6
 regardless of the opposing sides of interpretation, the Scriptures include homosexual
acts in a category that umbrellas its inclusion as a sexual sin among any others.
John 8 Paradigm

➢ The scene in this passage is more than just a picture of Jesus’ defense of Himself
against the accusations and persecutions of the Pharisees but it shows us something
more than just a battle of wits, it suggests a deeper, more meaningful approach to
people who fit the profile of a person with sexual sins.
➢ The tension in this account involves Jesus being forced in a position to agree with the
Pharisees and teachers of the Law to condemn the woman presented in the temple
courtyard.
➢ As expected by these temple leaders, as a rabbi who claims to be the Messiah, He was
expected to uphold the Law of Moses and fulfill the punishment of stoning to death the
woman accused (John 8:5).
➢ But what makes this account interesting is Jesus’s method of dealing with tension.

➢ Jesus’ words in verse 7 were totally unexpected by the teachers of the Law, the people
around and the woman in the trial.
➢ He said, “Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” The
comments of Jesus caught the spectators off guard as they left the scene one at a time.
➢ They have witnessed something that was not commonly done by rabbis. Jesus' way of
response did not only confront the hypocrisy of the people and the teachers in the
temple, but it was a demonstration of God’s compassion for the sinner.
➢ If we look at Jesus' actions, we do not only see compassion and grace but He does it
with a command to repentance.
➢ Of course, we can assume that the woman was indeed an adulterer and according to
what these teachers say, the woman deserves to die right away.
➢ But as we can see in this passage that Jesus was able to show compassion and grace
but also, He does not let the woman leave and continue to live in sin.
➢ Jesus equally emphasizes the need for repentance and changed life as he declares “Go
now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11).
➢ So when we look at the sin of homosexual acts, we are to view it in conjunction with all
the other sexual sins and avoid putting a “premium” on it.
➢ It is a sexual sin that God detests, like any other sins. We should treat people who
struggle with it the same way we treat other people who struggle with a different kind of
sin. That is with love and compassion.

This is a good example of Jesus Himself on how to be compassionate and yet firm to
what is right and appropriate. He does not only point to the right morals but also, does it with
grace and compassion.

7
 A right balance between grace and justice that exemplifies the heart of God for sinners
– that is all of humankind. I believe that when we take this example and consider Jesus' way of
dealing with sin and even sexual sins like committing homosexual acts.
When we live out this kind of mindset, people who struggle with same-sex attraction will
encounter the life-transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ that actively seeks out and shows
compassion which is something that people look for.
This Gospel is the hope that we all need to be forgiven, accepted and fulfilled.

SUMMARY:
• The problem with the gender debate is the cultural war between the pro-lgbtq
faction and the people who are against it.
• Your worldview (integrity,disability,diversity) will inform you of your preferences
regarding the gender debate issue
• The search for truth is necessary to be able to address the issue with a less bias
approach.
• In all areas of discussion, the more consistent view of gender and sexuality
would be the integrity worldview. While Integration of the lenses as the best way
of approaching the issue

REFERENCE:

Ballantine, J., & Roberts, K. (n.d.). Our social world: Introduction to sociology. Thousand Oaks, California :
SAGE Publications, Inc., [2020].
Conversion Therapy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 1, 2019, from
[Link]
Gender dysphoria in adolescence: Current perspectives. (n.d.). Retrieved August 31, 2019, from
[Link]
How Common is Intersex? An Explanation of the Stats. – Intersex Campaign for Equality. (n.d.).
Retrieved September 21, 2019, from [Link]
humans/
Mark Yarhouse | 36th Annual Scandrette Lecture | 3/29/2018—YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved from
[Link]
What Is Gender Dysphoria? (n.d.). Retrieved August 31, 2019, from [Link]
families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria
Yarhouse, M. A., & Burkett, L. A. (2003). Sexual identity: A guide to living in the time between the times.
Lanham, Md.: University Press of America.
Yarhouse, M. A., & Throckmorton, W. (2002). Ethical issues in attempts to ban reorientation therapies.
Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice,
Training, 39(1), 66–75.
Tay, J. S. H. (2010). Born gay: Examining the scientific evidence for homosexuality. Singapore: John S.H.
Tay.